


Where the heart is

by s-kiz (pigalle)



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Established Relationship, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Secret Relationship, but really they're just sweetly in love with each other, mostly humor with some sexual tension, rated m for some sexual content, there is some brief biphobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:21:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29047590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigalle/pseuds/s-kiz
Summary: Eventually, Felix takes a deep breath in and says, "I decided to come out to them before they come here, and now…" The way he trails off makes Chan's heart clench with worry. "I may have told them that I have a boyfriend to convince them."Chan feels a weight lift off his shoulders, relieved that it seems to be nothing worse than that. "You don't have a boyfriend, though.""No," Felix says, smiling that smile Chan is always weak for, "but I thought you could pretend to be my boyfriend?"Or, Chan and Minho are already dating, but when Felix asks for a favour from Chan, they end up pretending to be step brothers. Found family just got a whole new meaning!
Relationships: Bang Chan & Lee Felix, Bang Chan/Lee Minho | Lee Know
Comments: 8
Kudos: 109
Collections: october☆sparkle: minchan ficfest





	Where the heart is

**Author's Note:**

  * For [yeolinski](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeolinski/gifts).



> This is written for prompt #68 - which is actually Lana's prompt - of the minchan fic fest [October Sparkle](https://twitter.com/MinchanFicfest)!
>
>> Felix needs Chan to pretend to be his boyfriend (for whatever reason lol), but Chan and Minho have been dating for over a year now, and live together too. So now they have to pretend to be cousins/brothers/family to explain why they live together, even though they keep on sneaking behind everybody's backs, throwing each other dirty sex glances across the room, and just generally being... not very sibling-like.

  
  


It begins, as many things between Chan and Minho does, with a phone call and an exasperated Minho.

"So," Minho says when Chan gets home, before he can even get his shoes off, "Jisung called me to say that you were on a date with Felix."

"Surprise?" Chan says and winces. He'd thought he would at least have enough time to personally break the news to Minho.

Minho opens his mouth to say something, but freezes mid-motion. "Don't tell me you have another boyfriend again…"

——— 

So, how did it actually start?

Chan is meeting with Felix for lunch at a cafe close to where he works. They usually try to do it once a week, as a way to keep up even in their busy lives. They used to meet more often, back when they were both still in university, but now with Chan and his producing job and Felix with more school work than ever before, they rarely have time.

Felix had mentioned last week that his parents would be coming to visit this week, and he probably wouldn't actually have time for lunch, so Chan had been surprised when Felix called yesterday and asked him if they could still meet.

He arrives a little early, so he finds a spot by the windows and sits down with a cup of hot chocolate. It hasn't snowed yet, but it's getting kind of cold, colder than Chan would like. He doesn't think he will ever get used to how cold winters in Korea are compared to Australia.

Felix arrives shortly after and they order food before sitting back down.

"I thought your parents were coming?" Chan says when they wait for their food to be delivered out to the table.

"They are," Felix says, looking slightly stressed, "I'll meet them at the airport tomorrow — I got the days mixed up." He looks like there is something else he wants to say but doesn't know how, so Chan waits silently for him to figure it out.

Eventually, he takes a deep breath in and says, "I decided to come out to them before they come here, and now…" The way he trails off makes Chan's heart clench with worry. "I may have told them that I have a boyfriend to convince them."

Chan feels a weight lift off his shoulders, relieved that it seems to be nothing worse than that. "You don't have a boyfriend, though."

"No," Felix says, smiling that smile Chan is always weak for, "but I thought you could pretend to be my boyfriend?"

Chan feels himself frown in surprise — Felix is fully aware that he and Minho have been dating for over a year by now. "What about your roommate?"

Felix's eyes widens almost comically. "Absolutely not! He's my cousin!" His face twists into a grimace of obvious disgust. "Plus, he has a boyfriend. Well, kind of boyfriend — they just haven't admitted anything yet."

"What about me then?” Chan exclaims, in a slightly too loud voice. A few other patrons give him a look, so he lowers his voice before continuing. “I also have a boyfriend!"

"Yeah, but Changbin has told me about that time you pretended to date him for like a week when he just came out to his parents."

A waiter comes over with their food before Chan can reply, and by the time they’re alone (as much as they can be in a public cafe) Felix is giving him a Look with capital l.

Chan gives in before he’s even halfway finished with his food.

“Fine,” he sighs into his cup, “but I have to talk to Minho before I can promise anything for sure.”

——— 

“He asked for my help because he just came out to his parents and they weren’t convinced or something so he told them he has a boyfriend!” Chan kicks off his shoes as fast as he can and walks the few steps forward he needs to be able to thread his fingers together behind Minho’s neck.

“Doesn’t he have a roommate? What about him?” Minho asks.

“Apparently it’s his cousin,” Chan says, wincing when he remembers Felix’s reaction when he’d asked that, “so that one’s not possible.”

“Damn, didn’t know that.”

At least Minho doesn’t sound mad, so Chan pulls himself slightly closer, and makes himself smaller so he can look up at Minho with a pout on his lips. “His parents are only visiting until Christmas, so it’s not for long, please?”

Minho rolls his eyes. “Only you would be begging your boyfriend about something like this.”

“But you’re the bestest boyfriend ever so you’ll let me help him?”

Minho groans, but it looks like he’s already caved. “How will I ever be able to say no to you when all you ever want to do is help people?”

“Thank you?”

Minho gives him a long kiss, lingering a few seconds longer than he usually does. “You’re too good. Too good for your own sake and too good for my heart.” He kisses him again, and asks, “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

“Be yourself, obviously. The real question should be what I ever did to deserve you. To deserve a boyfriend who let’s me pretend to date one of our friends just to help him out.”

Minho hooks his fingers in the waistband of Chan's pants, pulling him close. "How can you even ask that?" He kisses him slow and deep, managing to distract Chan from their conversation before he pulls back. "You're the best person in the world. I hate that I can't even be surprised when you pull something like this."

"You still love me?" Chan says, fishing for a confirmation as he smiles against Minho's lips.

"Yeah," Minho sighs, but sounds happy as he does.

——— 

Because they are highly functional adults who can absolutely do their laundry in time and not put it off until they have barely any clothes left, they end up having a typical "laundry day" the next day, but at least it's a Saturday.

Minho finds a t-shirt Chan got him as a gag gift a few months after they started dating, with a print of a unicorn barfing rainbows. (Under the unicorn is text cut in half, the upper half reading “fuck you” and the lower half reading “love you”. Quite fittingly, when Minho had seen it he had first said “fuck you”, followed by a whispered “love you” as he’d kissed Chan. Chan still firmly believes it’s one of the best gifts he’s given Minho, even if Minho refuses to wear it most days.) When Chan has his back turned, trying to find a hoodie because their apartment is kind of chilly and he is a cold boy, Minho also finds a flowy skirt that Chan has completely forgotten they even own. He's taken by surprise when he turns around, and sees Minho sliding it up his thighs.

"Do you have to?" Chan asks, voice strained.

Minho  _ knows _ why it's a bad idea for a productive day, he  _ knows  _ how weak Chan is for his thighs (Minho may have been salty the first week they lived together and he realised he couldn’t wear shorts around the apartment if Chan had other things he needed to focus on). The skirt is fairly short, ending mid thigh, giving Chan the perfect view of his very muscular thighs. How can Minho possibly expect Chan to keep his hands to himself?

"This is a lesson in self-restraint to you," Minho says with a cheshire like grin.

"Baby, please?" Chan whines, already feeling almost desperate.

“Breakfast first,” Minho says, lightly ruffling Chan’s hair before he steps out of their bedroom.

Minho already has the rice cooker turned on by the time Chan manages to get himself to the kitchen. There’s two steaming mugs on the table, with tea steeping in them as the rest of their breakfast is being finished.

Chan gets the kimchi out of the fridge, passing by Minho just as he moves two bowls of soup to the table. They just narrowly avoid bumping into each other and spilling the soup all over the floor.

Minho’s skirt shifts slightly as he bends forward to set down the bowl, not really exposing any more skin, but Chan is still extremely tempted to reach out and touch. Minho sits down before Chan can finish the thought, so he forces himself to shake out of it, placing the kimchi down on the table and taking a seat opposite Minho.

Perhaps Minho sees some trace of Chan’s desire in his eyes, or perhaps he just knows Chan so well by now, but either way, just as he lifts up a spoonful of soup to his mouth, he tells Chan, “Eat up, you big baby.”

“I’m not a—” Chan starts protesting, stopping himself when the smug look on Minho’s face makes him realise that that is exactly how he had acted — is acting.

They eat in silence, because Chan realises that he’ll finish quicker that way, which means… well, he’ll quicker be able to worship Minho’s body. Minho must see something of this realisation on Chan’s face or in his face, because he only smirks lightly before quietly finishing his breakfast.

When they’re done, Minho gathers their dishes together and walks over to the sink. Chan finds himself staring at Minho's back, at the way the skirt flows around his legs, despite the fact that he's supposed to put away the rest of the things on the table. He just wants his hands on Minho, on his thighs, and he's already been patiently waiting throughout breakfast.

"Minho," he whines, "I've been patient, haven't I?"

“Yes,” Minho hums, still with his back turned to Chan, “you’ve been a good boy.”

“So,” Chan says, drawing out the vowel, “does that mean I will get a reward soon?”

Minho turns on the tap to fill the sink with water before he answers. “When we’re finished with this, sure.”

But Chan is already impatient, so as soon as he’s put away the rest of the things on the table he sneaks up behind Minho. Before he can notice that Chan is there, Chan puts his hands on Minho’s hips and presses himself against his back.

“Hi, baby,” he whispers, pressing a kiss against the back of Minho’s neck. “I just want a little taste, please?”

When Minho sighs Chan knows he’s won. But even as he sinks to his knees Minho doesn’t turn around — rather he just keeps doing the dishes. So what is Chan to do, stand back up and wait? No, he can still have fun.

“You’re being a little impatient today, huh,” Minho comments, putting one of his wet hands over Chan’s. “Why don’t you let me finish the dishes first?”

“Are you sure?” Chan asks, sliding his hands around to Minho’s crotch, and then further down to the hem of the skirt, all while pressing tiny kisses against the back of Minho's thighs.. “We could just leave the dishes for later.”

When Minho gasps, a choked off sound pulled from his chest, Chan knows that he’s won. Minho dries his hands on the dish towel laying on the counter, and then he turns around and pulls Chan up so he can capture his lips in a kiss.

Chan sighs and melts into the kiss, letting his hands trail up Minho’s thighs under the skirt. He loves them, and he’ll be damned if he doesn’t get to touch them now that he has them all displayed to him and within reach. When Minho briefly pulls back from the kiss Chan sinks down onto his knees and stares back up at Minho.

Minho sucks in a breath but doesn’t complain. He slides his fingers into Chan’s hair and tugs him close, until Chan can mouth at his skin with ease. When Chan starts leaving kisses along the inside of his thighs, occasionally biting as well, Minho sighs out, “yeah,” and moves his hands to grip at the counter behind him.

Minho’s thighs tremble, probably with the effort to keep himself from thrusting forward. When Chan glances up he sees him with his head thrown back, temptingly presenting his neck for Chan to bite into. But he stays where he is, trailing kisses higher until his forehead gives Minho’s dick some much needed friction.

And then Chan’s phone rings.

It buzzes into the pocket of his pants, making him moan softly against Minho’s skin before he pulls back. Minho frowns at him, clearly displeased, but doesn’t protest as Chan pulls his phone out to check who it is.

It’s Felix.

“Hello?” he answers it, confused about why Felix would be calling him right now.

“Oh thank-,” Felix breathes out, his voice low, and then whines, “hyung…”

“What is it Lixie?” Chan asks, shrugging his shoulders when Minho throws him a questioning look.

Minho’s hands are still clenching the counter tight, and his dick is creating a tent in the skirt that Chan has to actively stay away from.  _ Not now, _ he tells himself,  _ not when you’re on the phone. _

“Um, so…” Felix trails off, and then something muffled sounds, as if he covered the speaker to talk to someone else. When he comes back again his voice is much lower. “So, my parents came, and they’ve been asking me so many questions about my sexuality, and about you, and… I just wanted to take a breather.”

Chan isn’t sure where this is going, but he can feel that it’s important in some way, so he doesn’t interrupt him.

“But when I went to step outside for a few minutes, my parents wondered where I’m going so I told them I was going to your place, and they wanted to come along, so maybe now where already almost at your place because I didn’t have an opportunity to call you without them hearing until now.”

Chan blinks a few times, confused and trying to take in everything Felix just said. “You’re- Can you take that again? With less words.”

“Um,” Felix starts, and Chan can hear the apology in his voice. “Me and my parents are almost at your place already. I’m sorry for not calling earlier.”

_ Well, fuck. _ Just for clarification, Chan looks up at Minho and says, “You’re almost at my place, and your parents are with you?”

“Yeah,” Felix confirms, just as Minho’s eyes widen and he stares pointedly at his dick and then at Chan still kneeling in front of him.

“And there’s absolutely no way you can divert them not to come?” Chan already knows what the answer will be, and shakes his head at Minho when Felix confirms that he can’t.

“Okay, I’ll just put you on speaker so you can explain to Minho as well.” Chan stands up and presses the button to put the call on speaker.

“Hi, Felix,” Minho says, a slightly uncomfortable note in his voice that Chan hopes Felix doesn’t pick up on.

"Hi, hyung,” Felix says, and latches back into his explanation. “So, my parents kept asking me about Chan and my sexuality, and… It was all … a lot, so I just wanted to step out and get a breather, but they wondered where I was going so I said I was going to meet Chan and then they kinda demanded to come along?" Chan can hear the wince in his voice, sure that Felix must have picked up on how not ideal the timing is. "We're almost at your apartment now. I’m sorry for not calling you guys earlier.”

A look of resignation falls over Minho’s face and he sags back against the counter. “Okay.”

“But it’s fine, right?” Felix’s voice is low, and Chan can practically hear the uncertainness flowing out of him.

And because Chan has the biggest soft spot for Felix, he says yes despite the warning look Minho is giving him.

“Thank you thank you thank you!” Felix exclaims, maybe a little too loud, because Chan can hear a voice in the background asking something right before the call cuts off.

“You’re making this up to me later,” Minho mutters and pulls at the hem of his skirt. “When they leave you are so making this up to me.”

“Of course, baby,” Chan coos and stands up to press a kiss against his lips. “Anything for you, my love.”

—

They only have a few minutes to calm down before the doorbell rings. Minho doesn’t do much more than pulling his hand through his hair a few times, and Chan has to leave the room just so that he won’t jump on Minho and kiss him silly again.

Chan opens the door to let in their guests, Felix walking in first with the most apologetic look on his face that Chan has ever seen. He even mouths “I’m sorry,” but Chan only shakes his head slightly to let him know that it’s alright.

“Hello, I’m Bang Chan,” Chan greets Felix’s parents and they greet him back with smiles on their faces.

“It’s lovely to meet you,” his mom says, “Felix has already told us many things about you.”

But then Chan hears footsteps coming up behind him and instantly the pleasant look on Mrs. Lee’s face falls away, leaving something else Chan can’t quite describe.

“And who is this?”

“Lee Minho,” Minho says, leaning against Chan’s shoulder for a second before he seems to think better of it. “I’m hyung’s roommate.”

“I… see.” Mrs. Lee is still frowning, but she seems to have relaxed somewhat. Whatever the reason for it is from the start.

And right about then is when Chan remembers that Minho is wearing a skirt, and can’t help the frown that comes to his face. Minho must be picking up on some of the kinda hostile atmosphere, because he says, “I’m gonna head back to the kitchen for a bit and finish up the dishes,” and leaves.

Chan doesn’t like the way Mrs. Lee seems to relax even further when he does, but he really doesn't want to start a fight with Felix’s parents the first thing when he meets them.

“So, Bang Chan,” Mrs. Lee starts, “are you… gay, as well?”

“Well, I’m bisexual, so not really,” Chan says with a little laugh, trying to ignore the weird feeling settled in his chest. “Should we step inside? I’m just gonna check if Minho needs any help.”

Chan takes a few steps towards the kitchen, but apparently not many enough or quickly enough, because he can still hear Felix’s mom ask her son in a low voice, “But if he’s bisexual… is that really a good idea? What if he cheats on you with his roommate? Isn’t that what bisexual means?”

“Mom!”

Chan spins back around at Felix’s outburst — he’s not sure how much he’s told her, but considering what she just said it can’t be much. Because last he’d spoken to Felix about his sexuality, the younger had said he was fairly certain he was bisexual.

“Ma’am,” he steps in, before Felix can become too uncomfortable (Chan doesn’t mind too much, really, as long as Felix is okay),” I don’t want to be rude since we just met, but that is a very rude, incorrect and harmful comment you just made. I am no more prone to cheating on someone just because I’m bisexual than anyone else is, and neither should it be anything for you to worry about.” He pauses before plowing on, without thinking, really. “If it will be of any calm of mind for you, I can tell you that me and Minho are brothers.”

God,  _ why _ did he have to tell her that?! It’s too late now, Chan tells himself, and tries not to grimache.

Mrs. Lee frowns, and then asks, hesitant, “But you don’t have the same family name?”

Right. They had already introduced themselves with their family names and all. "Oh, uh, we're step... brothers." He winches internally at the awkward pause between step and brother. Hopefully she won’t pay it too much mind.

“Right, I’m just gonna…” He slinks away to the kitchen to warn Minho, almost careening straight into him as his socks slip on the floor. “Help, I might have told Felix’s parents that we’re step brothers.”

“And why would you do that?” Minho asks, continuing to wash the glass he’s holding, as if either he doesn’t believe him or didn’t fully process what exactly Chan just said.

“His mom made a kinda rude comment,” Chan says, intentionally keeping it vague, “that I won’t tell you to keep everything civil, and I just sort of … blurted it out.”

“So now they think… wait, what did you say you told them?” Ah, right, there it is, Chan was absolutely right to guess that he didn’t fully hear what he said.

“That we’re step brothers!” Chan whispers, right before Felix comes with his parents into the kitchen.

It feels cramped with 5 people inside, and Chan gives Felix’s parents an awkward smile, hoping they didn’t hear anything of his conversation with Minho.

“Should we go sit down in the living room?” Chan asks, and starts herding them that way. Because, really, why is the whole situation already so messy?

He gestures for Felix and his parents to take the couch and drags over a chair to sit down on himself. From the way Felix folds his hands in his lap, Chan can tell that he’s nervous. Sure, Chan may not be his actual boyfriend, but his parents don’t know that, and they’ll judge Chan and the whole situation based on them actually dating.

“So,” Mr. Lee starts, “Felix says you work with music?”

Oh, that’s a safe topic right there that he can talk about for hours on end. “Yeah, I work as a producer at a nearby company. I’m still only getting started though, but I get to work with two of my best friends, so I really like it.”

“Oh, I see,” Mr. Lee nods along. “Does it pay well?”

“Dad!” Felix protests almost instantly. “You can’t just ask him that!”

Felix’s dad laughs, and the atmosphere instantly lightens up, and all four of them fall into easy conversation about safe, everyday topics. Or, at least until Minho has finished the dishes and joins them in the living room. The conversation lulls for a few seconds before Felix’s dad starts a new one as if nothing happened.

Chan remains slightly tense, though, for a few minutes longer, until actually Felix’s mom asks Minho what he works with. She seems fascinated to find out that he works in a dance studio and launches into a monologue about how Felix has always wanted to dance. Felix looks slightly embarrassed, but at least he has a smile on his face and doesn’t look as tense anymore.

They continue talking for maybe half an hour longer before Chan even thinks of asking if anyone wants any tea or snacks.

“Ah, that would be lovely, thank you,” Mrs. Lee says, so Chan stands up to walk into the kitchen.

He fills the kettle with water and sets it to heat up while he looks through the cupboards for any sweets they can offer to their guests. He only finds a bag of chips and a box of biscuits, so biscuits it is.

“Pst, Chan-hyung.”

Chan looks to the side to find Felix standing beside him, a little frown on his face.

“Yeah, did you need something?”

Felix looks behind him towards the living room where Minho is conversing with Felix’s parents, and lowers his voice when he says, “Well, you see…” Chan waits for him to continue, because he knows that he will get to the point eventually. “So, my parents will be staying in my apartment, and Hyunjin went to stay with this guy he likes so my parents would have somewhere to sleep. It’s just that… we only have two single beds, so there’s not really any space for me…”

Chan can guess where this is going, and while he’s always happy to help Felix out, he also knows that Minho won’t like where it’s going.

“So my parents asked if I couldn’t just stay here, with you.” The frown on Felix’s face has deepened slightly, and his shoulders are pulled up to his ears as if he doesn’t actually want to be asking Chan for this. “And I didn’t really know how to say no so I, kind of… already agreed to it. Of course I can always just tell them that you didn’t think it was a good idea!”

Chan sighs as quietly as he can so Felix won’t notice, and puts one hand on his shoulder. “Relax, we’ll find a way to make it work. Minho might not be very happy at first, but maybe if you stay here your parents will lighten up to him a little bit.”

Instantly the frown lines on Felix’s face smooths out and he absolutely  _ preens. _ “You’ll ask hyung if it’s okay?”

Chan shakes his head with a fond smile. “Yeah, I’ll make sure he agrees, so you can tell your parents it’s okay.”

“You’re the best, hyung, you really are!”

“You're pretty great yourself, Lixie,” Chan says with a fond chuckle and ruffles his hair. “I’ll talk to Minho when you’ve left. And then maybe give us a few hours before you come back?”

Felix only gives a chuckle before he seems to realise the implication behind Chan’s words and splutters. “Did we interrupt you?” His grin is too mischievous for Chan’s liking, so he gently pushes him.

“Maybe,” he admits, “but now take these and get back there,” he says, handing over the plated biscuits.

Felix scurries off with a laugh, so Chan can only sigh at him. He really is like a little brother to Chan sometimes.

—

Felix and his parents leave not too much later after that, and Chan and Minho cleans up together.

“So,” Chan starts, when they’re stood at the sink doing the dishes, “this visit was unexpected.”

“Mhm,” Minho agrees, not looking up from the cup he’s drying, “that it was. And now you clearly want to tell me something. Will they be coming over often, is that it?”

“Well,” Chan says with a chuckle, “not really?”

“Is that a question?” Minho asks, raising an eyebrow as he looks up at Chan. “Or is there something else?”

Chan sighs and takes a deep breath before he says, “Felix will be staying over here while his parents are in Korea, because they don’t have enough beds. It was his parent’s idea!” he defends himself when Minho only gives him a Look™. “And he agreed to it and then he told me about it and I said it would be fine and that I would talk to you!”

“You did, did you?” Minho drawls, but he doesn’t sound actually mad.

“I told Felix to wait a few hours before showing up?” Chan squeeks, making it sound more like a question than the statement it actually is.

“You did, huh…” Minho says, but this time he’s smirking instead. “Well then we’ll have to hurry here, don’t we?”

——— 

Living with Felix, as it turns out, isn’t actually too bad. Sure, they have to actually think about not walking around naked, or being too loud when Felix is also in the apartment. He sleeps in the bed in the office, that they have in case of a guest needing to sleep over. It means however that he’s sleeping wall to wall with Chan and Minho’s room, and the walls are much thinner than either of them had realised, they discover that same night.

Felix bangs the wall suddenly and yells at them to be quiet. And so they have no choice but to go to sleep, still horny, because Chan really can’t do anything more when he knows that Felix can hear them.

——— 

The next day, the only warning they get is Felix’s, “Uh, guys, my parents will be here in approximately 2 minutes to pick me up for a family get together!”

Their bedroom door stays shut, but Chan still pulls back from Minho as if Felix had actually walked in on them. Minho doesn’t look too satisfied, but it’s not like either of them wants to be engaging in anything of an even remotely sexual nature when Felix’s parents are in the apartment.

“You’ll have to make up for this!” Minho hisses at him as he drags himself off the bed. There’s an annoyed pull to his forehead and his shoulders are tense, but that might be more attributed to the fact that his underwear is still straining over his boner.

“I will, baby, I promise.”

“You better,” Minho mutters, and slides on a pair of pants. “And I don’t want to have to deal with his parents more than I have to.”

“Hey,” Chan murmurs and slides his arms around Minho in a back hug, “they might just need to talk a little more with actual bisexual people and they will get better. I really don’t think she means too much harm.”

“But that’s because you’re a damn softy, I wouldn’t hesitate to beat someone being a bitch.”

“But you won’t because it’s Felix’s parents and we don’t want to upset him?”

Minho relaxes in his hold at that and sighs. “Fine, but only because I actually like Felix.”

“I love you,” Chan says, and presses a kiss right under Minho’s ear. “You’re also a really sweet person when you want to be. Like, you’ll fight people because you want to be sweet to the people you like and have been hurt by them.”

Minho clenches his hand. “If I have to see that expression on Felix just one more time because of his mom I will deck her, no regret.”

“I’m sure you will,” Chan chuckles.

“Guys, they’re at the door now!”

Once again Minho tenses up, but Chan only needs to hug him a little tighter for him to relax again. “It will be fine, probably.”

Felix has already invited his parents in by the time Minho and Chan get into the hallway. His mom is fuzzing about his hair for some reason, but his dad nods to Chan and Minho in greeting.

Felix seems to be relieved to see them and tears himself away from his mom. “Chan-hyung! My parents wanted me to ask if you wanted to come along as well.” He gives Chan his best puppy eyes, so how can Chan possibly say no? “Minho-hyung can come along as well, if he wants to.”

Mrs. Lee looks ready to protest, but Felix’s dad puts a hand on her arm and she relaxes. “Perhaps that wouldn’t be too bad. I’m sure the kids would enjoy having more people their own age there.”

Felix whinces slightly at that, so Chan can imagine that her view of them being around the same age as the “kids” isn’t shared with him.

“Sure, I could come along,” Minho says, as if he’s not at all noticed the tense atmosphere. Chan knows better though, and knows that actually, he’s enjoying this quite a bit.

“Then perhaps your parents would like to come along as well?” Mr. Lee asks, as if he knows his wife will say something if he doesn’t.

Uh oh. "Oh, uh, they're in Australia, so that would be a little difficult." He stomps a little on Minho's foot to keep him from saying anything, considering they're supposed to have the same parents.

The look Minho gives him is both an angry glare and something that absolutely should not leave their bedroom. (Or at least their apartment. Or Chan's studio that one time they- nevermind.)

“Oh?” Mr. Lee asks. “Are you also from Australia?”

“Well, I am, but not Minho.” He laughs a little awkwardly and hopes that they’ll leave it at that.

—

Chan was right about them not actually being the same age as “the kids”. Because “the kids” are actual kids, most of them around 5 to 7 years old if Chan has to guess. The only other person there that is actually their age is Felix’s cousin Hyunjin, it turns out.

“I have some other cousins as well that are a few years older than me and Hyunjin,” Felix says to Chan and Minho as the three of them head over to the table that has been set up to the brim with food, “but I think they happened to all be busy right now. I know that Yuna recently had her baby, so that is probably the reason she's not here right now.”

“It really is just you and Hyunjin then that are the same age, huh?” Minho comments, piling up bites of food on a plate. Chan tries to silently tell him to not take too much at once, but he’s pettily not looking at Chan, probably able to sense what Chan is trying to do.

“Yeah, but I don’t really mind,” Felix shrugs. “We’ve always been very close. Actually, we should try to find him so I can introduce you guys!”

“Just remember … the thing,” Chan says in a low voice so no one else will hear them.

“Hyung, you worry too much,” Minho says and hands Chan one of two plates he’s somehow managed to fill without Chan even noticing, “Felix has got this under control.”

“Thanks, hyung,” Felix beams, “this is why you’re my favourite, actually.”

“Hey!” Chan protests. “I’m the one supposed to be your boyfriend!”

“Don’t worry,” Felix giggles and pats Chan’s arm, “you’re a close second.”

“As he should be,” Minho says, with a smile that is quite dangerous with how it makes Chan want to drag him off somewhere private just so he can kiss him.

Thankfully he’s distracted by that thought by Felix loudly yelling, “Hyunjin!” right next to his ear.

A few meters away a guy who can only be Hyunjin turns around and waves happily at them. For some reason, he looks familiar.

“I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before,” Minho says in a low voice, as if he had read Chan’s thoughts.

“Me too, actually,” Chan admits, “but I have no clue where.”

Minho hums and shakes his head, and then Hyunjin is standing right before them.

“Hyunjin, my dearest cousin,” Felix drawls, because the dramatic way he says it cannot be described as simply saying it. “I want to introduce you to my boyfriend Bang Chan, and Lee Minho.”

Hyunjin blinks a few times, looking thoroughly confused, and says, “But I thought you were just dating one guy.”

Chan is glad that he’s not currently eating or drinking anything or he would have for sure choked. Felix only laughs brightly, and hits Hyunjin’s arm out of some kind of hysteria.

“Silly, of course I’m not dating both of them.” But then he turns to Minho and blinks up at him through his eyelashes. “Unless..?”

Minho laughs at that, as well. “That won’t happen, young one.”

Felix chuckles again, and slings an arm around Hyunjin’s shoulders. “Anyway, as I said, this is my boyfriend Bang Chan, and this is his step brother Lee Minho.”

“Ah,” Hyunjin’s eyes widens, and he seems embarrassed, especially considering the flush coming over his cheeks. “Yeah I didn’t- Um…”

Chan can’t help but to take pity on him. “It’s fine, really. It was even kind of a funny misunderstanding.”

“Oh, that’s good…”

And just like that the atmosphere is awkward again, and for a few moments no one says anything. But because Felix is Felix and he's such a bubbly, friendly person, he jumps right back into conversation without even seeming to have noticed the silence.

—

Some time later, after they'd found a table to sit down at — Felix sitting down opposite Chan instead of next to him, seemingly to the surprise of Hyunjin — Chan excuses himself for the bathroom. He doesn't really need to go, but Minho has been teasing him with one hand on the inside of Chan's thigh, dragging it slowly up and down. At this point it's become too much and he just needs a moment to breathe.

So of course Minho follows him.

"Am I getting you hot and bothered?" he asks as soon as the bathroom door falls shut behind them.

"Minho, we're in a public space!" Chan hisses, quickly checking that they're alone and no one can overhear them.

"And now we're not," Minho says with a smirk, crowding Chan back against the sink. "Don't tell me you're not feeling a little urge? You still haven't made up for earlier today."

"Of course I haven't!" Chan protests, even as his hands settle on Minho's hips. "There has been no time for it!"

"And what about now, then?" Minho looks around the room as if to emphasise the fact that they're finally alone. He slides his fingers into Chan's hair and grips onto it, making Chan instantly release the tension in his muscles. When Minho leans forward and kisses him, Chan can't even find it within himself to protest.

Which he really should have, absolutely, because a few moments later he can hear voices just outside the door to the bathroom.

"Minho-" Chan warns and pushes him off him just a few seconds before the door opens.

Minho shares a wide eyed look with Chan, and they both seem to come to the decision to just go back to Felix and Hyunjin and pretend like this never happened.

———

Considering that both Chan and Minho have known Felix for about as long as he’s been in South Korea, and he is one of Chan’s closest friends, it’s a little weird that neither Minho nor Chan have yet to meet two of Felix’s other closest friends, Seungmin and Jeongin.

Chan knows about them because Felix keeps talking about them, and he’s aware of the possibility that he’ll meet them, considering Felix mentioned the other day that they might come over for a movie night, asking if that would be okay. And while Chan assured that that would be okay, he did kind of expect to get some kind of warning beforehand, rather than simply coming home one day and hearing several sets of voices inside his apartment, when he knows for a fact that Minho is still at the dance studio.

“Hello?” he calls into the apartment as he toes off his shoes. “Is that you, Felix?”

“Hyung!” comes Felix’s voice from the kitchen, and a moment later he appears in the doorway into the living room. “I was gonna tell you when you got home that we planned to have a movie night today but they showed up earlier than planned. Hyunjin is here as well.” He says the last bit with his eyebrows raised in emphasis.

“Do the other two know?” Chan asks, because Felix never actually said anything about who of his friends he would tell the truth, if any.

Felix shakes his head, and when a series of questionable sounds comes from the kitchen, he widens his eyes and hurries back to the kitchen.

He can’t smell any smoke, so Chan just sighs and decides that Felix is fully capable of dealing with whatever the situation is. Plus, he’s just come back to work, and all he really wants to do is have a shower and change into some comfortable clothes. He does text Minho to let him know about the situation first, though.

—

By the time Chan emerges from the bathroom, Minho has already gotten home, and is sitting in the living room with Felix’s friends, where they have already set everything up for a movie night.

“Hyung!” Felix exclaims when he notices Chan. “Will you please join us as well?”

“Ah,” Chan chuckles, “I guess I could do that.”

There are several blankets and pillows that Chan has no idea where they got them from laid out on the floor, where Hyunjin and two guys Chan haven’t seen before are sitting. Felix pats the spot next to him, in the middle of the couch, with Minho on the other side.

“I saved a seat for you, hyung,” he says with a bright smile. One of the guys on the floor mutters, “Yeah, by kicking me down from it.”

Chan decides that ignoring whatever that is is for the best, and sits down in between Felix and Minho. Felix instantly latches on to his arm, while Minho only shifts slightly on the couch so that their thighs and shoulders are pressed together. Touching without it being too obvious that they’re even doing it consciously.

“When are you going to introduce us?” the same guy as earlier asks, twisting around to look pointedly at where Felix is attached to Chan.

“Oh right!” Felix exclaims, and then gestures to Chan. “This is Bang Chan, my boyfriend.” Then he gestures first at the guy asking to be introduced, saying, “This is Jeongin, our baby~” He ignores Jeongin’s protests to gesture at the other guy and say, “And this is Seungmin.”

“It’s nice to meet you guys, Felix has talked about you a lot,” Chan says, and gives them a slightly awkward wave. These are Felix’s friends who he often hangs out with and won’t soon go back to another country, and here they are, lying to them.

“We could say the same,” Seungmin says, exchanging a glance with Jeongin before pointedly looking at Felix. “But we actually would have liked to hear a little more about you before we’re suddenly invited to watch movies at his boyfriend’s place when we didn’t even know he has a boyfriend…”

“I’ve already apologised for forgetting to tell you!” Felix whines, dramatically throwing his head back on Chan’s shoulder. “But it’s not like we’ve dated for very long!”

“Is it because his brother is too clingy?” Seungmin asks, throwing a pointed look at where Minho and Chan are pressed together. Beside him, Jeongin’s eyes widen and tugs at Seungmin’s arm as if getting him to stop.

“Still salty that I turned you down when you tried to flirt, huh?” Minho says, a smirk playing on his lips that Chan can hear in his voice.

Chan barks out a laugh at the surprise of it, and Seungmin’s cheeks flare bright red. “I didn’t try to flirt with you!”

“You totally did,” Hyunjin says, scooping popcorn into his mouth from a bowl held in his lap. “You totally got just one look at him and instantly did a pathetic attempt at flirting.”

“I didn’t!” Seungmin protests, rounding on Hyunjin and trying to fight the bowl of popcorn away from him.

Next to Chan, Minho leans closer with one hand settled on his thigh and whispers into his ear, “He totally did, like a little puppy. It was almost cute.” His hand tenses momentarily so that his fingertips pokes into the softness of Chan’s inner thighs. “Felix has some interesting friends, I must say.”

“I think I agree,” Chan whispers back, trying not to turn his head too much towards Minho or he just might kiss him, right there in front of three people who think they’re brothers.

He does, however, chance linking their hands together after Felix throws a blanket over all three of them just before the movie starts.

——— 

For a few days not much out of their regular routine happens. Felix is busy a lot and even stays over at Hyunjin’s friends place one night, finally giving Chan and Minho some time together. Minho certainly makes sure that they make the most of it, not that Chan is really complaining.

He doesn’t see or hear of any of Felix’s friends for those days, until Felix asks if Chan and Minho want to come along to karaoke.

“I know it’s short notice,” Felix says, sounding strange coming from the speaker of Chan’s phone into the empty dance studio he and Minho are sitting in. “I kinda forgot to ask you about it…”

“It’s okay, bro,” Chan assures him, “and we’re free tonight, so it really is okay.”

“That’s good,” Felix says, sounding slightly like he’s forcing out a laugh. “You still know where that one we used to go to is, right?”

“Yeah, we know it,” Minho says and takes a swing of his water bottle.

“See you in two hours then!” Felix yells, thankfully sounding like he’s far away from the phone, and then the call is ended.

—

As soon as they get inside the door Chan is certain the others are already there. The front door is one level above the karaoke place itself, and yet they can still loud and clearly hear a group of people being loud in the lobby. It surely can’t be anyone else but Felix and his friends.

Their voices only get louder as Chan and Minho descend the stairs, getting closer to the chaos. They seem to be arguing about something, but Chan can’t figure out about what exactly with the way their voices flow together into one mess as they try to drown out each other. He does however notice two very familiar figures among the people standing in a huddle.

“Hi, didn’t expect to see you here,” Chan says as he and Minho come up behind Jisung and Changbin at the edge of the group.

Jisung spins around and exclaims, “Hyung!” so loudly that everyone else seems to hear him and quiets down. “I haven’t seen you in a while,” he adds, which is a strange thing to say considering they were working together not even 5 hours ago. But then he gives Chan a pointed look with a strained smile before glancing back at Hyunjin in particular, and Chan gets it. He’s for some reason pretending that he doesn’t know Chan as well as he does…

“You know this Chan as well?” Hyunjin asks, and all the puzzle pieces fall together. Hyunjin’s “friend” he’s been staying at is Jisung, and obviously Jisung must have talked before about a Chan and a Minho who’s dating.

Chan’s a little surprised that Hyunjin hasn’t seen through the lies yet, but perhaps he just simply wants to believe in what he’s been told. Because right now he thinks Chan and Minho are brothers, so of course they can’t be the Chan and Minho that Jisung knows who’re dating.

Felix seems to notice what’s happening and decides to distract them by exclaiming, “Okay!” When everyone turns to him he says, “Should we go in then? We’ve already booked a big room for all of us — I think this might actually turn out to be very fun!”

Surprisingly, it only takes a moment to get all of them to follow and get inside the room, after which chaos breaks out again. Jisung loudly argues with Hyunjin about whether or not they should sing a duet together or not, and it looks to get a little too heated before Changbin steps in and physically separates them from each other.

“Can we please not fight?” Chan tries to ask, but he gets drowned out halfway through when Jeongin for one reason or another decides to loudly scream. And when Chan says loudly he really does mean loudly.

“I’m too old for this,” Minho mutters with one hand over the ear closest to Jeongin. The other hand he places on Chan’s arm to drag him over to the couches in the corner. “I don’t know why I agreed to this or why I even thought it was gonna be a good idea. Clearly it was a terrible idea.”

Chan doesn’t say anything, only smiles fondly, because while Minho’s words make it seem like he wants to be anywhere but here right now, his voice is soft and just as fond as Chan’s smile. It’s clear that he’s already taken a liking to Hyunjin, Seungmin, and Jeongin, despite not having known them for very long — or barely at all, in the case of Seungmin and Jeongin.

“Should we step in or something?” Minho then asks, despite pushing Chan down on the couch and then sitting down himself next to him.

“Just let them fight for a bit and then they will calm down,” Chan says, and slides just a little closer to Minho. “Let’s just watch them for now.”

He lays one arm up on the backrest behind Minho, hoping for the low lighting in the room to keep it inconspicuous. Minho relaxes into him like he always does, and settles one of his hands on Chan’s thigh, slowly sliding it up and down the inseam of his jeans.

They watch together as Felix sets up the first song for him and Jeongin, and he can’t help the fond smile that overtakes him. His friends have always been very precious to him, especially the ones he grows extra close to and who becomes like a second family away from his other family.

And in the middle of all of these feelings, Chan completely forgets where he is and just who he’s with. He hooks his left leg up over Minho’s knee, inviting him to slide his hand up higher. Clearly Minho either doesn’t remember where they are, or he just instinctually lets his hand slide along the seam of Chan’s jeans until he bumps against his crotch.

Thankfully, just a few seconds later, before either of them can let anything more incriminating happen, Jisung skips over and throws himself down on the couch next to them. He glances at them before turning back to the others, by now so used to Chan and Minho’s antics, before he whips around towards them and snatched Minho’s hand away.

“You’re supposed to be step brothers!” he hisses at them, and Chan finally realises that they’re actually in a karaoke place with people who, like Jisung just said, thinks they’re step brothers. “seriously, how horny can you be?”

“Well, Felix is staying with us, for one,” Minho says, awkwardly shifting on the couch so he’s not so much hanging onto Chan anymore, “so it’s not like we have the place to ourselves.”

“You need to learn self-restraint, is what you need,” Jisung mutters and sags back against the backrest.

“Did you hear that, Channie?” Minho purrs, leaning close to Chan’s ear so he’ll hear him clearly. “I’m not the only one who thinks you need to learn self-restraint.”

“I meant both of you!” Jisung groans and reaches over Chan to push Minho away, just in time for Hyunjin to look over to them and call out for Jisung.

“If I leave you two alone again will you be able to behave?” he asks, standing up.

“We will, I promise,” Chan tells him, moving his left arm so it’s actually on the backrest and not around Minho’s shoulders. “You can go to your boyfriend.”

Jisung splutters in protest, but doesn’t actually deny the accusation. Instead he just flees from them, joining Hyunjin where he’s picking the next song to sing.

——— 

“It’s once again time for me to convince you to let me bring my furbabies home.”

Startled Chan looks up from his book. He hadn’t even heard when Minho arrived home, and now he’s showered and dressed in loose, comfy clothes. And starting the discussion they’ve already had several times.

“Minho, baby,” Chan says, putting his book down, “You know our apartment building doesn’t allow pets. It has nothing to do with me not allowing you!”

Minho sighs and dramatically throws himself down on the couch next to Chan. “I know that… But my parents called to ask me if I could come over and look after the cats when they’re out of town over the night.”

“Oh,” Chan says, shifting on the couch so Minho more easily can lean against him. “Did you want me to come along with you?”

Minho twists around slightly and puts his chin on Chan’s shoulder. “It’s just one night,” he drawls, dragging one hand up the inside of Chan’s thigh, “but imagine all the sex we can have.”

A laugh bubbles right out of Chan, delightedly startled by Minho’s words. “Is that so, huh?”

—

Chan really intends for them to move to Minho’s old bedroom before they get too intertwined with each other, and yet…

While Minho goes to the kitchen to put away the food they brought with them, Chan walks into the living room to greet Minho’s cats. Soonie and Doongie are sleeping curled up next to each other in the cat tree, but Dori runs out from behind the couch when Chan calls out to them. Chan almost trips over Dori spinning around Chan’s leg in an attempt to get attention and cuddles. Fortunately the couch is close and he falls down onto it instead of the floor.

“Hello little guy,” Chan cooes when Dori jumps up into his lap. “Have you missed me? Are you not getting all of the attention you deserve, baby?”

“Sometimes,” Minho’s voice comes from the doorway, “I’m inclined to believe you love my cats more than you love me.” Minho walks over until he’s stood right in front of Chan. He reaches down to scratch behind Dori’s ears before he starts talking again. “But then I remember that you should because my babies deserve all the love in the world.”

“And am I one of them?” Chan asks, unable to stop the teasing lilt to his voice.

“Hm?” Minho hums, looking up into Chan’s eyes.

“Am I one of your babies?” Chan asks again. He barely notices when Dori jumps out of his lap and down onto the floor, too busy getting lost inside Minho’s eyes.

“Aw,” Minho drawls with a smirk, “you want to be one of my babies.”

Instantly, Chan’s ears flare red and he has to repress the urge to hide his face in his hands. “Don’t tease me!”

“I would never, baby,” Minho says, but the teasing hint is still there in his voice. “You’re always so good to me, baby. Do you think I should give you a little reward?”

Chan’s mouth falls open and he nods, leaning his head into Minho’s hand when it comes up to slide into his hair. “Please,” he whines, his eyelids falling shut as Minho tugs at a few strands of his hair.

Minho’s other hand comes up to rest on the juncture of Chan’s shoulder and neck to push him back against the backrest of the couch. The next moment he slides into Chan’s lap, settling as a heavy, comforting weight over Chan’s thighs.

“Look at me, baby, tell me what you want.”

Chan opens his eyes and finds Minho too close, too tempting, only managing a whine before surging forward to capture Minho’s lips. Minho tsks against his lips, but lets himself be dragged into a deeper kiss.

Chan has missed this. Being able to kiss slow and deep or fast and hard, going at whatever pace they want without fear of anyone hearing or walking in on them. There’s a hum of frustration that’s been budding under his skin ever since Felix came to stay with them and they couldn’t have full sex, that is starting to relax and dissipate now. He arches up into Minho, seeking more contact, more friction, before he will go crazy.

Minho pulls back just far enough that he can say, “Shh, baby, we’re not in any rush here. Slow down.” His right hand tugs at Chan’s hair, making his head fall back and arching his neck in invitation. Except, Minho doesn’t take it as such, instead he connects their lips together again and trails the fingers of his left hand up the column of Chan’s throat.

Just as Chan thinks that he’ll be able to stay quiet, Minho squeezes his hand briefly before relaxing and letting his nails drag down the side of Chan’s neck. It sends shivers down Chan’s spine, pulling a whine from Chan’s throat.

He’s so close to asking Minho to just ravage him right there on the couch, that he needs to take a moment to breathe and collect himself. Except, when he pulls back, he involuntarily squeeks, “Kitten!”

"Oh my, I didn't think you were into calling me that," Minho practically purrs.

"No, stupid” Chan almost chokes from laughter, stunned out of whatever haze he was in before, “one of your cats is staring at me!"

“So?”

Chan gapes. “They’re your babies and you’re just okay with them watching us like this?”

“Hyung,” Minho says and tugs on Chan’s hair, “they’re just cats, they don’t care.”

“Well I care!” Chan finds himself squeaking out. “Can’t we just go to your room instead?”

Minho groans, but pulls his hands back and climbs off of Chan’s lap. “If you insist.”

“I really do,” Chan nods, and gets up on shaky legs. “If they’re your babies, then they’re like babies for me as well!”

Minho simply shakes his head at Chan, fondly, and grabs his hand to pull him with him up the stairs to his room. Chan stumbles after him a few steps before he manages to find his footing. If either of them fall they can’t really have sex, and that would be such a shame.

—

Not that they exactly can have full on sex either way as it turns out. Because neither of them brought anything, and this is Minho’s childhood room they’re in.

Chan closes the door behind them before Minho can manage to drag him all the way over to his bed, and finds himself pushed down on his back the next moment.

“Please just get your clothes off already,” Minho whines, even as he’s straddling Chan’s hips and pulling his hands up above his head to grasp at the headboard.

“And how am I supposed to do that?” Chan asks, or at least he tries to before it’s broken off into a moan as Minho attaches his mouth to his neck. “I- I can’t even-” He loses his voice when Minho bites down on his collarbone, arching up into Minho, seeking any type of contact or friction he can get.

“Oh,” Minho teases when he briefly pulls back, “can you not move, baby?”

“You’re doing this on purpose,” Chan realises, finding his mouth dropping open. Minho isn’t often like this, but it’s not like Chan can find it in himself to dislike or protest against it.

“Of course,” Minho drawls and trusts down once, twice, before sitting back on Chan’s thighs. “Don’t you think it’s fun?”

“Do you?” Chan counters and wriggles his hips, even as he knows what answer he’ll get.

“Mmh,” Minho hums. He slides his hands down Chan’s arm, tugging briefly on a few strands of hair before sliding them further down, over his chest, until he can reach the hem. “You’re the prettiest when I tease you like this.”

“I could say the same,” Chan counters, slowly moving his hands down from above his head, “if only you would let me.”

Minho catches his hands before they can get any further down than his head and tsks. “Not right now baby, it’s my turn today.”

“And if I want it to be my turn?” Chan asks, taking Minho’s momentary distraction to twist his hands around until he has a grip on Minho’s arms instead of the other way around. He tries to flip them over, but Minho seems to have expected it and only settles his weight more firmly over Chan.

“Nu-uh, not this time, Channie, it’s my turn.” He twists their hands around again until he has a firm enough grip on Chan’s wrists that he can cross his arms over his chest and then suddenly Chan has his own hands over his neck and any previous thought he had flies out the window.

“Minho-” Chan moans, arching up, his hands twitching around his neck but not really doing anything else.

“Now be a good boy for me,” Minho says, letting go of one wrist to slide his hand down and then up under Chan’s shirt to splay out over his chest, “and you won’t have your hands stuck in your shirt. You don’t want that, do you?”

Chan shakes his head because he can’t find his voice, focusing too much on once again finding his resolve to flip Minho over. It’s there, somewhere, but their current position has his mind too hazy to really have any thoughts other than seeking friction and release.

“That’s my good boy,” Minho says, and thrusts down as a reward. He’s hard, they both are, and Chan realises then just how much they’ve both missed this and how affected it has them.

They’re not going to last long, either of them, are they?

Probably when it seems to Minho like Chan isn’t going to move his hand, he lets go of the other wrist so he can move both his hands down to work on getting Chan’s pants off. He’d worn one of his tighter pairs of jeans earlier, not really thinking much of it, but now he’s surely regretting that decision. Minho fights with the button and zipper for a moment, Chan feeling his hands shaking against his dick. So Minho really is just as affected as Chan, huh?

“Stupid tight pants, “Chan hears Minho mutters before he feels him beginning to slide them down. He tries to help by lifting his lips, but really, the easiest way would be for them both to stand up and just take off their own clothes. Chan knows Minho doesn’t want that though. He likes the struggle of them trying to get the other’s clothes off, if he’ll even let Chan today.

“You know-” Chan starts saying, but gets cut off when Minho cups his dick through his underwear and gives a warning squeeze. “Okay, okay! I know you wanna do it!”

“Good,” Mimho hums and leans down to give Chan a long deep kiss. “I’m the one making the decisions today.”

Chan has half a mind to tell him to just wait and see, but then the oh so lovely friction is back, with two layers of less fabric this time. Sure, their pants aren’t slid very far down, but that can come later when they’ve gotten at least some relieving friction.

“Please,” Chan half says, half whines, when Minho pulls back again, “clothes off?”

And to his surprise Minho agrees, his nod too eager for him not to also be feeling the need to get closer to each other. “Yeah, okay, you can move your hands.”

Minho sits back on Chan thighs and just watches for a moment as Chan heaves himself up far enough from the sheets to get his shirt off. Then he’s sliding his hands under the hem of his own shirt, hooded eyes trained on Chan as he slides his shirt upland off with slow movements. Clearly intending to tease Chan again.

Chan’s hands find the waistband of Minho’s pants as he’s sliding his shirt over his head and can’t see anything, tugging at it to get Minho to understand that he wants less layers between them, and he wants it now.

And as if Minho can read Chan’s mind — as often actually seems to be the case when they’re having sex — he sighs and swings his leg over Chan so he can stand up. “Be quick, please.”

He sounds more desperate than Chan had expected, so how could he possibly deny him that? Without the other being in the way they manage to get their pants and underwear off quickly, and then Minho is over Chan again, their bodies grazing each other skin against skin.

They fall into each other, Minho coming down to press as close together as he can and locking their lips together, Chan reaching up to grasp his arms around Minho’s back, fingernails scratching against his bare skin before he can find a grip. Minho reaches down between them and grasps them both in one hand, sliding up and down almost torturously slow.

“Tell me what you want, please,” Minho moans against his lips, the words almost getting lost inside Chan’s mouth.

“Want you closer,” Chan replies, because that is all he knows right now. Minho is right there, above him, but he’s still not close enough yet.

“Me too, always need you closer.”

Chan slides his hand down Minho’s back slowly until he reaches his ass. He grabs one cheek in each hand and squeezes as he pulses him down, thrusting up at the same time. “Where do you have lube?”

“Hang on.” Minho pulls back and reaches over to his night stand. He fumbles around for a second before he can find the drawer handle, and then fumbles around for even longer trying to blindly look for the lub inside. “Where is it?”

Chan tries to twist himself around enough to see, but to no avail as the drawer is too far away. Eventually Minho pulls back his hand with a small bottle grasped in it, and Chan can already feel himself lose hope. It looks empty.

Minho opens the cap and squeezes it, but not a single drop spills out.

“Fuck,” Minho groans, slumping over Chan. “And I didn’t bring any either…”

Chan can feel the sigh he lets out down to his toes. “Me neither. And no condoms either.”

“Fuck,” Minho says again, but with more annoyance. “I can’t believe we would forget- When we finally can have sex, no less!”

“It’s okay, it can happen,” Chan tries to reassure him, stroking Minho’s arms slowly up and down. “And Felix’s parents aren’t going to be here for much longer, remember? Then Felix will go back to his own apartment and we’ll have all the time and space to ourselves.” Minho nods slowly, but still looks dejected so Chan adds, “Plus, we can still do other things that don't require lube or condoms, yeah?”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Minho sighs, “I guess I’ve just missed it.”

—

They’re both strung so tightly that they finish quickly, which is good seeing as at least one of the cats is at the door a few minutes after, scratching and meowing for attention.

“Your babies are so spoiled, do you know that?” Chan says and sits up on his elbows.

“Mm,” Minho hums, sliding his hands up Chan’s torso, “they really are, huh?”

Chan flushes red from the implication but lets Minho kiss him without any protest.

——— 

The dance studio is quiet when Chan enters the building. The couches in the corner of the lobby are empty of students, and there’s no one behind the front desk. Chan knows it’s because it’s too early in the day and it’s not needed when there are no students coming to dance. In a few hours the place will be bustling with people, but right now Chan is glad that it’s so quiet.

He finds Minho in the room at the end of the corridor, the one that barely gets used because the lights are moody and often don’t want to work. It’s Minho’s favourite room to go to whenever Chan is coming to visit.

Minho turns around with a smile already on his lips when Chan opens the door.

“I’ve been expecting you,” he says, trying to sound ominous.

“I know,” Chan chuckles and drops his bag by the door, “I literally texted you 10 minutes ago that I was coming over.”

Minho pouts playfully but opens his arms to accept Chan’s hug. “You couldn’t even play along just a little?”

“Baby…” Minho doesn’t protest again when Chan kisses him, slow and gentle. He misses this, even if they have kissed in front of Felix. It’s not like Felix has never seen them kiss or is uncomfortable with it, but it’s just not the same to be kissing when he’s there with them. There is something so much more intimate about kissing when they’re alone, only the two of them.

“I’ve missed this,” Minho mumbles when they briefly pull back from each other.

“I know, me too,” Chan sighs and presses a quick kiss against the curve of Minho’s upper lip. “But his parents will be going back to Australia soon and then we can go back to normal.”

Minho slides his hands up into Chan’s hair. “You know, when I said you could help him I didn’t expect him to be staying with us.”

“I’m sorry about that,” Chan says, and gives him his best begging puppy eyes.

Instantly Minho seems to melt, as weak as ever for Chan making that expression.

The door opens as Chan leans in to kiss Minho again, but neither of them think too much about it, because everyone it logically could be at this time of the day knows that Chan and Minho are dating, and it’s not like they’re doing anything scandalous either.

Then the person gasps, loudly, and Chan finds himself staring straight at a startled Hyunjin.

_ Well fuck. _

Both Chan and Minho open their mouths to speak at the same time, but before either of them can say anything, Hyunjin turns on his heel and bolts from the room.

Chan and Minho share a panicked look, before Chan fishes out his phone to call Felix.

“Bro, we have a problem…”

—

They’re quick to explain the situation to Felix, who says that Hyunjin just texted him to say he had something important to tell him. When Felix confirms that Hyunjin is on his way over to the apartment, Chan and Minho gather their things and hurry to get home.

They don’t run, but it’s a close thing. They think they see Hyunjin a few times, but he’s too far to say for certain. But it must have been him, because when Chan unlocks and opens the apartment front door, they just catch Hyunjin saying, “You need to break up with your boyfriend.”

The door closes a little too loudly behind Chan and Minho, and Hyunjin whirls around to stare at them, his eyes still wide open.

“Hyunjin…” Felix says, making Hyunjin turn his attention back to him, “it’s not actually what it looks like.”

“And how do you know that?” Hyunjin says with a gentle voice, but glaring daggers at Chan in particular.

“Because,” Felix begins, still calm despite the hostility in the room, “Chan and Minho are dating. I’m not actually dating Chan, I just asked him to fake being my boyfriend while my parents are here.”

Hyunjin gapes like a fish out of water for a moment before he deflates and sags down onto the couch. “Why didn’t you just tell me that?”

“Because you love gossiping!” Felix exclaims, to which Hyunjin gasps.

“How dare you! I can keep a secret if i want to!”

“You’re also really dramatic, like now,” Felix giggles.

Hyunjin gapes and clutches at his chest, probably not even realising just how dramatic he's being. "They're not actually step brothers, are they?"

“No,” Felix shakes his head, “they’re definitely not.”

“I would never kiss my brother if I had one,” Minho says (in what Chan would not call a sneer, but he’s sure Hyunjin would in this moment), and sits down on the other end of the couch, “and frankly I’m offended that you think I would.”

“You guys told me you were brothers, though!” Hyunjin exclaims, but at least he seems to have much less fire behind his words now.

“incorrect,” Minho pats his lap for Chan to sit down, “Felix told you. That’s a difference.”

“Play nice,” Chan sighs, but relents and actually sits down in Minho’s lap. “Hyunjin was told we were brothers, so it’s only fair that he believed that.”

“Hah!” Hyunjin exclaims, pointing one accusatory finger at Minho.

“But!” Chan hurries to act. “It’s kind of ridiculous that you didn’t realise sooner that we’re the Chan and Minho that Jisung has told you about.”

That seems to make Hyunjin speechless as he can only gape. “Oh. Yeah that makes sense.”

Minho barks out a laugh. “Wait, you never realised that when your boyfriend talked about a Chan and Minho who knew Felix, it was us?”

“He’s not my boyfriend!” Hyunjin protests, even though his cheeks instantly flushes bright red. “But I have been an idiot, haven’t I?” He groans and hides his face in his hands, and when Felix pats his back with a calming, “There, there,” he screams, the sound muffled by his hands.

“Sometimes what should be obvious isn’t that obvious to us,” Chan says, feeling a little bad suddenly for all the teasing. They should be happy that Hyunjin believed them and never questioned anything. Especially considering the fact that Felix’s parents questioning him is exactly how they ended up in this situation in the first place.

“Do you want to stay for dinner?” Minho asks, hooking his chin over Chan’s shoulder. “I almost feel bad now.”

“Wow, hyung, I didn’t know you could be so soft for someone other than Chan-hyung,” Felix teases, and earns himself a swatting on the arm.

“Behave, brat, or you won’t get any food!”

Felix jumps off from the couch and skipps away towards the kitchen. “I’m your favourite brat though!” he calls after himself. “And you can’t deny me food if I help you cook it!”

———

Felix goes back to his own apartment one day before Chan and Minho will be flying down to Australia to spend the days leading up to new year and a few days after with Chan’s parents. Most of the Christmas hype is already over, but they still decide that they can take a day to themself and have a date in the city, strolling down streets and maybe taking a break in a cafe or two. It’s what they’d planned to do before the situation with Felix’s parents, but now that they’ve flown back to Australia, they don’t have to worry about running into them and having to explain why it looks like they’re on a date.

But perhaps Chan should have been a little more careful with thinking so.

—

It’s a cold day, so they bundle up in warm coats and fluffy scarves before walking outside. By the time they remember that they didn’t think to put on gloves they’re already too far from the building to want to turn around. Thankfully Chan finds a pair in the pockets of his coat that they share, one glove each, and just hold hands with the other hands to keep warm.

It’s cozier than Chan expected, to be completely honest. Sure, it’s colder than he would like, but there’s a light snowfall coming down, and every situation is always better when he has Minho with him there by his side.

They’ve just stepped out of their first cafe when the universe makes it apparent just why Chan should be more careful before thinking everything is perfectly fine.

They’ve taken a few steps away from the doorway to not block the way for anyone wanting to come inside or walk out from the cafe when Minho tugs at his hand to stop him. Chan looks over to ask why they stopped, and instead finds warm lips on his own. They taste like the coffee Minho just drank, and while he usually despises the taste, Chan can’t help but to smile into the kiss.

But then just as they break away from each other, all their peace is shattered by the loud gasp coming from just a few meters ahead of them. Chan spins around to find who it is, ready to fight a homophobe if he has to, and comes face to face with Felix and his parents.

_ Fuck. _

Felix only gapes at them, clearly not expecting to be running into them, and probably wondering how possibly he’s supposed to explain this. And Chan would really appreciate it if Felix figures out a way to do it, because while he doesn’t really want to run away and leave all the explaining to Felix, he really has no idea what to say. Because this really doesn’t look good considering Felix’s parents still think Chan and Minho are step brothers.

“Well this is fun,” Minho comments, his voice deadpanned in a way Chan knows means he’s actually panicking internally.

Felix’s mom frowns and opens her mouth as if to say something but closes it a moment later. Chan thinks he sees her left arm flex, and just a few seconds later Felix’s winches and pulls his hand out of her grip.

“I certainly hope you have a good explanation for this,” Felix’s dad says, sounding more angry than Chan has ever heard him before. He expects Mrs. Lee to add some comment about how Chan is bisexual, but she thankfully stays quiet.

Rather, she has turned to Felix with what he can only explain as a deep sadness in her eyes, and only then does Chan realise that to her, this looks like her precious son’s boyfriend was just caught red handed cheating on him.

“We can explain,” Minho says and takes half a step away from Chan. “We’re not actually brothers.”

“Well I would certainly hope so!” Mrs. Lee bursts out, rounding on them with a fire burning behind her eyes. “But that still does not explain why  _ you _ ,” she turns her furious gaze towards Chan and jabs a finger in his direction as well, “are cheating on my son!”

“Mom-” Felix says and grabs her arm, clearly trying to calm her down. “It’s really not like that! We’re not even dating!”

For a moment, everything seems to be completely still and silent, before both of Felix’s parents slowly turn towards him. “What are you talking about?” they ask in perfect unison, kind of creepily, if you ask Chan.

“Well,” Felix says, squirming under their combined looks, “so I might have told just a tiny lie? It’s just… you didn’t really believe me when I said I wasn’t straight, so it sort of just slipped out that I have a boyfriend, even though I don’t. Chan-hyung was just being very nice by agreeing to pretend while you’re here…”

“You didn’t have to lie to us,” Mrs. Lee says, sounding stern but at least much more calm than just a few seconds ago.

“You made me feel pressured, though!” Felix bursts out and then seems to regret it right away. “I just… Can we just go home and talk about this instead?” He looks around himself, as if to check if anyone is listening in on the conversation. Chan hasn't noticed that anyone is, but at the same time he can understand Felix wanting to have this conversation in private with his parents.

Right before they can walk too far away he grabs Felix’s arm and asks, “Call me later and tell me how it goes?”

Felix nods, and then he hurries to follow his parents, leaving Chan and Minho standing there outside the cafe, in the middle of their christmas date, stunned to silence.

But in the end that went much better than what Chan expected when he first noticed who they’d run into.

———

Chan probably should have learnt his lesson about thinking such things by now, but he really does think that that is the last he’ll see of Felix’s parents for a while, if not years.

The next day they make sure to pack the last things that they need, and then get a taxi to the airport. It’s still early in the morning, so while Minho sits down on an empty bench with all their bags around him, Chan walks over to a nearby cafe. There’s still almost an hour until boarding, so he gets a large coffee for Minho and a large cup of tea for himself.

He’s not used to being up so early in the morning, especially not when he regularly doesn’t go to sleep until after 3 in the night, so he has to stifle a yawn as he waits for their orders to be finished. It doesn’t take long, and then he brings them back to Minho.

Minho at least seems more awake then Chan is, and accepts his coffee with a smile.

“Finish your tea and then you can take a nap,” he says, slinging one arm around Chan’s shoulder to pull him against his side. “I have been told my shoulder is good for naps.”

“Yeah, by me,” Chan yawns, but he’s clearly too tired to deny the opportunity.

—

Minho wakes him up from the nap just a few minutes before boarding starts. Chan, still feeling groggy, lets himself be led and steered the right way, keeping a tight grip on the straps of one of their bags in one hand and Minho’s hand in the other. Minho has both of their tickets and passports, so all Chan really needs to do is follow Minho and make sure he doesn’t fall asleep.

They do manage to get onto the plane with Chan only stumbling one time, but thankfully Minho caught him in time.

“Do you want the window seat?” Minho asks as he puts their bags away in the overhead compartment.

Chan leans against the row of seats, fighting his eyelids to stay open. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll probably sleep the entire way, so, if you want it you can take it.”

Minho hums and slides into his seat first, he makes sure Chan gets into his without falling over before he takes his hand and pulls him against his shoulders. “Sleep for now, I’ll wake you up if you need to be awake for some reason.”

Chan hums as an affirmation and closes his eyes. He’s still absolutely tired, but now that he can fall asleep, he stays in the state between waking and sleeping, shifting around a few times trying to find a more comfortable spot. He can hear a low hum of people in the process of boarding talking, but all the voices flow together into a muddle in his way too tired brain. Or, it does, until…

“Oh. It’s you…”

The voice sounds too familiar, but he can’t place it exactly. He blinks his eyes open and turns towards the aisle, hoping that he’ll know who it is when he can see them.

He is once again met face to face with Felix’s parents.

“It is indeed us,” Minho says, his voice calm, and he pets Chan’s hair a few times as if to get him to put his head back on his shoulder. “We didn’t know you would be on this flight as well.”

“We could say the same,” Mrs. Lee says, sounding much happier than yesterday. “What’s the odds, huh?”

“Mm, you could say that,” Minho says. He doesn’t sound too invested in the conversation, and it seems like Felix’s parents notice that as well because the conversation falls quiet around Chan. He hadn’t even realised he’d closed his eyes, but now he’s feeling the pulls of sleep, and since he’s tired and has no reason to stay awake, why fight it?

“Have a nice sleep, Channie,” is the last thing he remembers hearing before falling asleep. He doesn’t feel the kiss Minho presses against the top of his head, though.

—

Minho shakes him awake when they start landing, and Chan feels much more rested than before. Maybe it’s just the nap, maybe it’s the fact that soon he will be standing on Australian soil, breathing in the air of his childhood. Dramatic? Maybe, but he really has just missed Australia and his family. And maybe the bright sun and the long beaches, as well. Sure, he’s brought Minho here before, but he can’t wait to show him more of his favourite spots from his childhood, places they didn’t have time for last time.

And maybe they can make some new memories to back back to. Memories with some of his most favourite people in the whole world.

(Yeah, maybe waking up from a nap has made him sappy, but can you really blame him when he’s finally back in his hometown, with Minho right there next to him to experience everything with?)

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I'm a master of procrastination so I think around 7k of this was written this week, so I hope I didn't miss too many typos! I hope you enjoyed this :3


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